Name: Bo's Favorite Meat Loaf for Meat Loaf Haters
Ingredients: 1 (10.5 ounces) can condensed low-sodium tomato soup; 2-3 lbs lean ground beef, about 7%; 2 cups corn flakes, crushed lightly; 1 cup finely chopped yellow onions (can buy these frozen for no-prep work); 2 1/2 tablespoons chopped parsley (fresh or dry works); 1 1/2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce; 1-2 egg, slightly beaten (for two pound meat use one egg; for three pounds, use 2 eggs); 1/2 teaspoon salt; 3/4 teaspoon lemon pepper; 1 tablespoon minced garlic or 1-2 crushed garlic clove

Why it works: Tomato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,099 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,099 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + beeftop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,448 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,398 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lean ground beef: Provides the main body and savory flavor of the loaf.
Corn flakes: Soak up moisture and help keep the loaf tender rather than dense.
Eggs: Bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Condensed tomato soup: Adds moisture, sweetness and acidity to the loaf and its juices.
Yellow onions: Add moisture and savory aroma as they soften during baking.

The step that matters

Drain the excess juice during the last half hour. Fat and liquid rendered from the beef pool around the loaf; draining them keeps the meatloaf from steaming and becoming soggy, while the juice can be reserved as a sauce.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, beef, corn, onion, sauce, egg, meat):

Garlicfits better
Cuminfits better
Celeryfits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, beef, corn, onion, sauce, egg, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Soup	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0

Bo's Favorite Meat Loaf for Meat Loaf Haters